Farmers breeding guinea pigs have said they will abandon the work in the hope that the remains of their relative dug up from a grave in Staffordshire will be returned.

The Hall family, who run Darley Oaks Farm in Newchurch, have been targeted by animal rights activists during a six year campaign of intimidation.

The body of Gladys Hammond has still not been returned They have been breeding guinea pigs for biomedical research.

In October 2004 grave robbers removed the remains of their 82-year-old Gladys Hammond, from a churchyard in nearby Yoxall.

Now the farm is to stop its work at the end of the year, a spokesman for the David Hall and Partners family-run business said today.

"The business, which has operated for over three decades, will undergo a phased closure until then to ensure the welfare of animals involved, the spokesman said.

"We now hope that, as a result of this announcement, those responsible for removing Gladys' body will return her so she can lie once again in her rightful resting place.

"David Hall and Partners are planning a return to traditional farming. They have no plans to be involved in any way in the breeding of animals for medical or scientific research."

Campaigners said they will continue their protest until the guinea pig breeding operation officially closed at the end of the year.

A spokesman for Stop the Newchurch Guinea Pigs, who gave his name as Johnny and would not reveal his surname, said:

"This is the most fantastic day of my life.

"It's a victory for the animals and it's a fundamental victory for the animal rights movement. I feel so unbelievably proud to be part of the movement."

Local Tory MP Michael Fabricant, referring to the disinterring of Mrs Hammond's remains, told the BBC's Today programme: "Isn't it a tragedy that behaviour of that type apparently has succeeded in this country?"

He's so unbelievably proud to be associated with blackmailing grave robbers that he wouldn't give his last name.